How can we define evil in the world today? For some people it is a force which drives all of the “bad” things in the world, while others believe it to be an actual entity controlling human nature to perform evil, and there are even examples of people not believing in evil at all.
In order to asses this we should look back in time at what was once the ultimate evil; Satan. It is so apparent in today’s society that evil, and the beliefs in Satan are fading away. It was particularly interesting to me how in the article Delbanco said that once “The Devil, once he is visualized and given voice, tends to run away with the show.” I completely agree and observe how the devil is viewed today; as a cartoonish character. This image has been disconnected with “evil,” and therefore the devil is now vanishing. We have to wonder, where has all the evil gone?
The answer is simple, evil is here on Earth with us today. With such events as genocide and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we are forced to either conceive a concept of evil, or strengthen our pessimism and embrace our knowledge of evil. It is clear that all of the evil that people experience today is only caused by other people. We can look at the acts of Hitler, the hate of the KKK, genocide, murder, death, and destruction - all which are caused by our own species.
I guess the real question we should be asking, is why?
2 Responses to “Where’s all the evil?” |
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September 7th, 2006 at 4:31 pm
That’s deep, I mean, you’re right. The article talks about where evil has gone, but it’s everywhere today. Even at school, if we look hard enough we could find something evil. So even though there is no longer the belief in Satan, evil is still lurking around us. To answer your question about why there’s evil in the world, evil is probably around us because the people doing the evil don’t perceive their actions as being evil. They think they are doing the right thing. For example, Hitler believed he was doing the right thing by cleansing the Earth of Jews. Everyone else thinks that’s a major act of evil, but he didn’t realize it. A better question would be; how can we prevent ourselves from committing evil acts when we think we’re doing the right thing?
September 11th, 2006 at 10:26 am
[…] JJ writes: It is clear that all of the evil that people experience today is only caused by other people. […]